Rockford crowd rallies for the return of kidnapped Nigerian girls

ROCKFORD — Dozens gathered for a rally at the Keeling-Puri Peace Plaza on Friday morning to demand the return of 276 girls who were kidnapped April 14 from a Nigerian school.

The teenage girls are believed to have been kidnapped by the terrorist organization Boko Haram, an extremist group that reportedly has killed 1,500 people so far this year as it seeks to impose a twisted version of Islamic law, opposes education and fights women’s basic human rights.

Event speaker Elise Cadigan of the Rockford Rotary Club said she fears the kidnapped girls have been sexually assaulted and are being forced into marriages. Cadigan said they were kidnapped from a school that was their only hope of breaking out of poverty.

“They are primarily a group of men and boys looking for power at any cost and determined to control girls and women, bringing about Sharia,” said Cadigan, who has taken humanitarian trips to the region. “They are bullies with guns and machetes. They are uneducated, unemployed and hide behind the Quran, which they have completely distorted. They are sneaky, always dangerous and they are desperate.”

Those who attended the rally were encouraged to join thousands around the world in tweeting photos and messages with “#BringBackOurGirls.”

In addition to the kidnappings, there have been attacks, and the Associated Press reports 50 burned bodies were recovered Wednesday after an attack earlier in the week in Gamboru.

Boko Haram has killed thousands of people in Nigeria — a country of 170 million equally divided between the Christian and Muslim faiths — over many years in a campaign of bombings and massacres, the Associated Press reports.

But the group’s mass abduction of schoolgirls has galvanized global attention. The U.S. announced Tuesday that it was sending personnel and equipment to help Nigerian security forces recover the girls.

YWCA of Rockford CEO Kris Kieper said the event Friday was one of dozens of rallies across the United States and around the world in response to the kidnappings.

“We wanted to lend our voice in Rockford to that message, and if we have these rallies around the United States, then it’s going to let our legislators know we are serious about wanting the U.S. to become involved in this rescue effort.”

Rockford resident and Nigeria native Roz Okeke said she was touched by the outpouring of prayers, support and comfort offered by the people of the United States and Rockford. She was impressed that more than 60 people braved rainy weather to attend the rally.

She attended school years ago in Nigeria when things were different.

“I guess maybe I was sheltered, or way back when it wasn’t like this,” Okeke said.

The attacks and violence, especially the violence directed at young women, has shocked Okeke.

“This is no time to cry,” Okeke said. “This is the time to be strong and stand together.”